Research funds ($60,000) to support the gathering and writing up of findings on novel and effective ways of assessing learning practices, especially learning facilitated by digital media. Deadline: January 6, 2012.
Online networks, digital resources, and gaming environments provide rich opportunities for learning that is demand-driven and learner-centered. More and more people are turning to networked knowledge communities, online tutorials, and other digital resources for wide ranging learning needs. While learning is migrating to these more informal and non-institutionalized kinds of contexts, we still have little research that examines how people assess, recognize, and display the learning that happens in these settings. What are the emerging techniques and practices for managing reputation and recognizing learning? What are the broad historical and structural understandings of how accreditation operates in our changing social and cultural environment? What systems exist for recognizing learning outside of formal degree and training programs? How do credentials and other displays of achievement operate in the digital and networked world? What kinds of skills and experiences have not been well captured by existing credentialing and recognition systems? How is the landscape of credentialing changing (or not) with the shift to digital and networked society?
Full text of the call: http://www.dmlcompetition.net/Competition/4/research-competition-announcement.php (See Research Grant chapter)